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I am back today, and hope that you will join me, in a wedding wish for the happy couple....

Yes, today's the day for the big wedding, everyone here at the 'House of Sugar' would like to take this opportunity to wish Debbie& Tom all the very best for today and for the rest of your lives together!

We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the sun smiles on you today and always!

Good morning everyone Mina here...don't worry you wont have to all run and hide I wont make you suffer my voice by singing at you...at least Pat is in tune lol...are you all ready and eager to get started on Day Two of our mini hops...aren't the Under the Sea mermaids so so gorgeous, they are a dream to colour too.

Hello all you Sugar Lovers!! Pat Frank here...and I am delighted to welcome you to Sugar Nellie's "Under the Sea" Sneak Peek Week!

Now, I have to ask...how many of you have seen the Disney animated movie "The Little Mermaid"? Remember that song? C'mon...sing it with me...

"Under the Sea...

Under the sea....

Darling it's better,

Down where it's wetter....

La da de da daaaa...

Under the Sea!"

I've been singing that song all week long in anxious anticipation of today! Why? Because my exceptionally talented Sugar Nellie DT "sisters" and I have been busy little "sugar mermaids" these past few weeks...and, as with each of the past several Sugar Nellie stamp debuts, we will will be hosting a week of Mini Blog Hops...starting TODAY!

Well, you would not believe the mess.................
Last night Debbie and Tom were blackend. Some of you might want to google that and you will find this fitting answer

"a disgusting tradition begun in medieval times when celtic ritual ruled the area. it is supposed to be a sort of humbling which is supposed to show that the couple can make it through any kind of trial with humility. they used to capture the bride and groom and cover them with soot, feathers, and treacle (a sticky syrup like molasses or corn syrup) and they would be paraded about the town with lots of shouting and carrying on.
the stuff they put on them would take days to wash totally off so it was considered a good lesson in humility. lol...it would certainly rub some of the shine off of the bridzillas of today's wedding world."

So without further ado, here are our photos

At this point Debbie was unsure if it was safe to hang around.....

Megan and James along with all the other siblings, were right on the front line!

Tied to a tree, not quiet tarred and feathered but close enough

If you think this was bad, you should have seen our shower rooms after not only the bride and groom had

to clean off but most of the siblings too.

That's all from me today as I still have a few things to do

favours

flowers (well Kate not me)

and the final dress fitting.

Yes I have shoes, I now have 2 complete outfits to choose from.

One with a coat and one with a bolero, with this weather you can never be sure.

It's all go go go here in Sugarland...the elves are hard at work down the Sugar Mines getting all the new rubber ready for the next release.

Our fantastic DT have been working their socks off getting amazing samples ready to tantalise you with the sneaky peaks which will start on Monday.

So...how's about a little competition? A little brain teaser?

Who or what are these little beauties??

Get your thinking caps on and leave a comment on this post, and one lucky winner chosen at random from the correct entries will win a prize. You can enter as many times as you like but we will not publish the comments until after the competition has closed and a winner been picked....just to keep you all guessing.

The competition is open to everyone, except of course the Sugar Nellie DT, Sugar Bowl Sweeties and any employees including the Sugar Mine elves (tricky little devils them elves are!)

Our Sugar Mama Gayle will announce the winner here on Saturday, and publish all the comments.

Good morning everyone. Today I wanted to share a Christmas card I made using one of the adorable images from the Home Grown Manga collection.

This beautiful girl is Gingerbread and she's offered at a special price right now at Funky Kits. I colored her with copics and colored pencils and used lots of Glamour Dust on her outfit. I added some little flat pearls for the buttons on her coat. I added Glamour Dust and pearls to the snowflakes.

Isn't she a cutie? And this image with the butterflies is just perfect for summer.

I always do my coloring first and then pick the papers so I was thinking about which colors to use. There are a lot of bright and sunny colors perfectly matching the season but for some reason I was thinking of blue and brown first. So, that's what I went with.

I like the vintage touch this adds to the image and card.

To repeat a part of the image as an element on the card I punched out a butterfly. It is punched twice, once from blue cardstock that I covered with Stickles and once from white vellum that I stamped a butterfly with yellow ink on.

The saying is german and means "be yourself, everyone else is already taken".

For the last 4+ years I have been an avid fan fiction reader, a huge online site where novice authors write and load up their stories for folks like me to read and review. They don't get paid for it and they must spend a lot of time on these stories for little or no reviews. There are 1000's or stories featuring your favourite characters from book, TV show and everything in between. Be it Friends, House, CSI or Harry Potter there are stories with your favourite characters all over the net.

I entered the fan fiction world via Twilight, after watching and re reading these stories again and again, I was lost as to what to do next and found myself online, reading stories which all featured Edward and Bella in every story line you can ever imagine and some you cant.

This is where I first read Master of the Universe, 3 or more years ago it was freely available to read and I was delighted to make the connection to the very much talked about 50 Shades or Grey books.

Why you might ask because it is no way a literary masterpiece and has received much criticism regarding it content.

I was delighted that someone who had spent an enormous amount of time writing something for pleasure, shared it with others not knowing how well it would be received, had her work published!

It's what every would be author dreams about and I am pleased that she has been successful in writing a store that was read by 1000's, got picked up by a publishing house, has a "hot" best seller and now a movie deal, AWESOME RESULT

and no matter what you think of the story its is a dream come true for

the woman who started off on fan fiction.

I shall not go into the phenomenon that is 50 shades and how it is now acceptable for woman of all ages to read erotic literature because its for sale in Asda so it must be OK
and how there are many men out there that are very happy that their women have picked up these books ;)

I will quickly move on to The Hunger games which I could not put down until I had finished them all. Now I wait for the DVD to come out because it is just so expensive to visit the pictures (cinema). When Debbie first gave me the run down on this story, I thought is sounded to much like a horror story for my liking, but having read them all I would say its a futuristic, science fiction, Mad Max type story based on children fighting to survive in a corrupt and evil world of the future. A nice change from all that smutty lemony grey matter.

I`m back from a wonderful and very warm vacation in Greece, so today I`m cooling down with a cold Christmas card:) This wonderful Sugar Nellie image is called Wish upon a star, and you can find it here at Funky Kits. I have used ovals from Spellbinders, and I have made the frame with punches from Martha Stewart. I have decorated the card with ribbon, pearls and organza flowers.

Here is a close up of this sweet image. I have colored her with my Copics.

Good Morning Everyone!Jane here today with some sweet Sugar Nellie inspiration for you. All the members of
the DT are very busy at the moment preparing cards for the next release
and I just know you are going to love the new stamps! I decided to dig
out one of my older Sugar Nellie stamps for my DT card this week and
have used the lovely 'April Showers' which is available here from Funky Kits.

I used some brand new Crate Paper papers for my card from the 'Little Bo Peep' pad.
I love the soft girly colours and the rose patterned paper is sinply
beautiful. I layered the patterned papers onto a pink paper from the pad
and added stitching around the edges and wrapped my layers in some
beautiful ribbon which is available here
from The Ribbon Girl. I added a Lili of the Valley sentiment and lots
of flowers from my stash and finished with some stick on pearls.
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday.
Jane
x

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend....I wanted to show you this gorgeous little Home Grown Manga sweetie today, shes at a special price on Funky Kits too so a bargain, shes called Honey Bee...I coloured her with distress inks and teamed her up with this stunning double sided Echo Park paper...gorgeous colours isn't it....they match this honey so well don't they...thanks for stopping by today and all the details of my card are on my blog as alwaysMina xxx

This image is called "Trip to the Park"... and is available HEREat Funky Kits. Don't you just love that luscious long hair? It was such fun to color too, I tell ya! I colored this darlin' with Copic Sketch markers and a variety of colored pencils.

Here's a list of the Copics I used...

Skin: E21, 00, 000, 0000 w/a touch of E13 for darkest shading

Cheeks: R30 & 20

Hair & puppy: E25, 23, 53, 51, 15, YR20

Blues: BG72, 10, 00

Peachy-pinks: R35, 32, 30
Shading around image: BG000 & BG0000

If you'd like more info on this card as well as a look at a few more photos, please pop on over to my blog HERE...and say "hi"!

And...that's it for me. Have a great week! Hugs...until next time!
Pat

It's very wet here in Scotland and the rest of the UK, we went to Glasgow this week for Debbie's ggraduation and it rained buckets, poor hubby had to change a flat tyre first thing in the morning, on a busy two lane road in the city centre, dressed in his best suit, on the ground while I stood, wider than usual with a huge orange brolly, in the middle of the road so that no one would run him over.
But before we went, Megan had to be dropped off at her Grannies. I was pleased to see she was knitting and wondered what it was she was making. "Its for the fish and chip babies", I knew nothing about this and when I can home last night I googled it, as you do.

I am just winding down at work, ready for some time off. The wedding is in less than three weeks, there are visitors coming and dresses to be fitted. Favours to finish along with order of service and place settings.

I have started on the sweetie dessert table and now have my copy of Amy Atlas book to inspire me.

As we have a new stamp ‘launch’ coming very soon, and we are very busy ‘backstage’ colouring and creating in order to show you some delicious things, we thought we’d do something a little different for todays post!

The Design Team have been having a little debate over on Facebook, as to which paper trimmer we liked best, and as it’s a popular subject….we thought we would share some of our thoughts with you all, in the hope that you don’t waste a lot of money on very expensive ones….this seems to be a common problem, as I think we have all done this at some point!

(Please allow me to point out that none of the opinions are that of Sugar Nellie as a company, just some thoughts from some crafting addicts)

I am always the one with the big mouth so it’s my turn to go first….

Gayle – I have tried many a trimmer in my time from the cheap and cheerful to the incredibly expensive (I still wince at the price I paid for the Making Memories one….only for it to start cutting wonky about a month after purchase, so I bought another and it broke in half) Nowadays I use the 12” X-Cut Guillotine….Whilst it is not portable and takes up a bit of room, it just keep going and going straight to boot!

Jane - I use a Fiskars paper trimmer as I like the fact it is lightweight and very portable and that it has the extendable arm. I think the replacement blades are quite good value too. Major plus point for me is that it has lots if orange on it so it is easy to spot in the mess on my desk

Mina - I use a Tonic X cut 12" guillotine for my large cutting and scissors for anything else

Vicky- I use a tonic guillotine...the medium size one and the mahoosive large one for 12" papers/card which also has as an extendable arm..it self sharpens every time you use it....and it cuts straight which is a miracle in itself...and again it's orange too...for my messy desk lol...

Kathrin- I have been trying a bunch of these - liked the Fiskars one that Stampin'Up sells too but after getting two replacements since the guidelines/measurements disappeared and it also started happening to the 3rd one I switched and got myself a Martha Stewart one. Works great and I am really happy about it. Just need something small that can also cut 12" papers - it has an extendable arm - and it also comes with a scoring blade that I can use instead of the knife. And it wasn't expensive - didn't want to spend a lot of money to another paper trimmer since I could open my own shop with the ones I have lying around here. LOL

Astrid - I only use my Fiskars, it’s portable, easy to use, goes to 40 cm's, also the Inch measurement is on it , always cuts straight, I had a very expensive one, after 6 months this one also cuts 'wonky' :) That one - Dahle507 - I only use to cut board or heavy stuff :)

Tiets - I agree with Astrid, I bought the Fiskars 2 months ago and it cuts just fine.. I had the Dahle 507 too but my gosh that was awfull!!

Pat- I use an old, old Fiskars with an extendable arm. It's black and has a little orange thing-a-ma-bob with a teensy blade. I can change the blade when it starts getting dull. It works well for me...although I seem to go through blades like wildfire!! I think it's the same one Jane uses. I actually bought a newer, updated version...but still use the old one! I'm such a creature of habit!! hehe!

Anita- I use a Carl Craft guillotine. I have had this cutter for almost 5 years and I don't think they even make this model any longer. I always loved it until a few months ago. It's starting to not cut very straight so I think I need to check out the Fiskars or the Tonic.

Marianne - I have Fiskars with the circle blade. Love, love, love it, and will never use anything else. It is big enough for all my projects, still small enough to bring along to scrapping events. I have used the same blade for years, and it still gives me straight and sharp edges.

The final word goes to…THE BOSS!

Karen - Carl 12" because it's round blade for gentle cutting of fine papers and it has a big flat measuring panel, without swing out an arm to measure. I have a 6" Fiskars for small detail.

So, there you have our tuppence worth on all things ‘paper trimmer’

I hope this helps those of you who may be starting out and those of you who find it all a little bewildering. It may even save some of you some hard earned cash, I mean...who has a trimmer start going wrong and then goes straight out and buys the same one straight away?

(Oh yeah...that'd be me*blush*)

Which do you use and why?

What equipment would you like us to discuss next?

Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts, after all, it’s good to talk!

There is little doubt in my mind, that there are more disappointed crafters at the moment, than those who are screaming and dancing around the house with joy!

Whilst I am going to keep our new DT line up a secret for just a little bit longer, I would like to take the time to perhaps help the disappointed amongst you with any future Design Team calls that you may enter…..

Here are just 5 little tips, they are in no way definitive answers but if you can look at your work objectively, you may see what we see, when we hop around blogland.

Your colouring, how do you feel it compares with others? Is it something you could practise more? Honing your colouring skills can only give you a better chance.

Your photography skills….how clear are your pictures? If your card is difficult to see it can severely hamper how you are perceived. Perhaps take a look at other craft blogs and see how they photograph things, and what equipment they use. Do you need a light tent and a daylight lamp, or will a bright window and some plain white card help?…also find basic (and free) photo editing software and experiment, it can work wonders.

The overall look of your blog…..if it is covered in blinking badges and busy patterns with candy notices everywhere, is it just generally very cluttered? This can also detract from your work, the most important things on your blog should be your craftwork…it’s kinda that simple!

Think about the number of design Teams you belong to….do you look overcommitted, are some of those no longer fun? Do you still belong to them purely because you can have a badge saying ‘DT member’ on your blog? We could never tell you what to do but, crafting should be for fun…not for collecting badges. We look for people able to commit time to a project, there will be other companies who do the same.

Is your blog in the language of the company you are applying for? Now, I am multilingual BUT there are MANY, MANY people who are not and how can you judge if a person can write in passable English if they do not show you they can? There are many translation sites over the web which you can copy and paste whole chunks of text into and use the translations on your blog. Make your posts bilingual….it makes sense.

This is in no way a definitive list, just some common things we see time and time again when trying to make these difficult decisions.

The great thing about crafting is that it is an art form so, everything is a matter of personal taste.

I would however, like to take the time to thank everyone again for their time and their applications! I did enjoy my visits to your blogs, it’s always great fun to see what people get up to with our sweet Scottish stamps!

OK, so maybe not the exact words George Gershwin wrote, but the words are true for the UK.

Summertime?? We bypassed Summer, we did not pass 'go' and did not collect the expected rays of sunshine! But we have had an awful lot of rain this year!!

Instead, we shall find Summertime over on the Sugar Bowl as the optional theme for the new challenge.

Our lovely Mama Gayle created the fab sketch for this challenge, and her gorgeous card is made with the image Skool Days. This is such a pretty stamp and of course it's perfect for this time of year when children are finishing the school year. Teachers are breathing a sigh of relief and parents are excited to have their little darlings at home for 6 or 7 weeks :)

Hello sugar sweeties. Anita here today with a new card to share with you. It has been unbearably hot in my area so I thought I would play with a beautiful fairy and some snowflakes in hopes of cooling off a bit.

This image is Wish Upon A Star and you can find her over at Funky Kits. I love this adorable fairy, such a sweet look on her face. I colored her with copics and colored pencils and then added lots of Glamour Dust and Liquid Pearls. Every fairy should have lots of sparkle, right? I really enjoyed working on a Christmas card. I think I'll go pull out some more of my Sugar Nellie fairies and start working on my Christmas card stash;)

I know, it's summer but right now I am totally addicted to those cute fairies Sugar Nellie offers. I have to admit that I had none of these until a few weeks. Then I ordered my first one and am totally hooked now. So I had to get more. And with the hot weather we're having thinking of a cool winter day was really refreshing. That's why I used I grant you one wish.

Of course she can not only be used for a winter-ish card!

I stamped the image in two steps - first I only inked up the wings with a light shade of a blue-ish green and for the next step I inked up the rest, making sure not to have any black ink on the wings' lines. Okay, had to do it twice because I failed on the first try. But I am really please with this effect. It gives those wings a delicate tough...

Usually I color my image first and then pick my papers. But when I went through all my papers because I was looking for a specific one I came across the one that I used for the background of this card and totally loved it for this image. So I made my coloring and the other papers match the colors of the one I just had to use.

I added some pins with big crystals and a few smaller ones around for a frosty look and put some white snowflakes die cuts in the background.

Good morning everyone, are you all enjoying our wonderful summer weather...no...me neither lol...but never mind it gives us more time to spend crafting at least...thanks for stopping by today, I have a card made using this fantastic little sweet...shes Birthday Princess and just perfect for any little (or big for that matter) Birthday girl...I coloured her with distress inks and teamed her up with this stunning SEI paper...all the details are on my blog as always...whatever your up to today I hope you manage to get a little sunshineMina xxx